Arsenal started excellently but Bayern increasingly demonstrated their superiority.

Arsene Wenger made the surprise decision to continue with Yaya Sanogo upfront – the Frenchman had only made his full debut in the weekend win over Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola also named a surprise XI, with Javi Martinez in the side and Philipp Lahm back in his old right-back role. Thomas Muller was only on the bench.

Arsenal were excellent for the first 10 minutes, but after Mesut Ozil’s missed penalty Bayern grew into the game, and were completely dominant after Wojciech Szczesny’s red card.

Arsenal start brightly

It eventually proved irrelevant, but Arsenal were superb for the opening ten minutes, creating three or four genuinely dangerous moments when breaking quickly and purposefully in behind the Bayern defence, who were completely exposed and positioned too high.

Various Arsenal players contributed – Sanogo won his first aerial challenge and made some good bursts into the channels, Ozil drifted around to find pockets of space between the lines and towards the flanks, while Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs all burst past opposition challenges as Bayern tried to press Arsenal aggressively, without success.

Ozil

Arsenal’s main man in the opening stages was Ozil, who drove forward on the break, seemingly because Martinez, in the holding role, was pushing up to pressure Wilshere rather than keeping it tight between the lines. Ozil also drifted into a left-sided position at one point, picking out Cazorla cleverly on the edge of the box, and then stormed directly through the defence to win the penalty. This was Ozil at his best: direct in possession, running in behind and drifting out wide, the variety that makes him so dangerous.

The penalty miss was obviously a negative for Arsenal in itself, but Ozil being the culprit was was particularly problematic – it seemed to affect his confidence, and thereafter he wasn’t such a catalyst for Arsenal’s attacking moves.

Bayern high line

The whole of Europe has been wondering precisely where Bayern’s weakness is – the opening to this match suggests it’s at the back. The centre-backs both played poorly, rushing into tackles and taking up extraordinarily advanced defensive positions.

Arsenal were able to break their defensive line easily, albeit generally in the channels rather than in direct goalscoring positions – Sanogo did so, Ozil did so, and even Cazorla, a player whose major weakness is his lack of pace, got in behind down the right.

It was also obvious at free-kicks – one of Arsenal’s few promising moments in the second half was when Laurent Koscielny collected a high, lobbed free-kick unmarked, but couldn’t quite spin and shoot. There are certainly merits to pushing so high up the pitch, but it requires good decision-making from the centre-backs, which wasn’t always obvious here. Boateng was booked for his penalty concession, and later committed a foul on Wilshere inside the opposition third, a bizarre piece of positioning and a completely avoidable challenge when on a yellow.

Bayern possession

From the tenth minute, Bayern controlled possession. Although he wasn’t the star man, and his positioning had arguably been responsible for Arsenal’s early dominance, Martinez was the man who started this. Located between Arsenal’s lines of midfield and attack, he simply had freedom and was allowed to slow the tempo, although it was Toni Kroos who eventually found space most intelligently, and controlled the game better.

Bayern’s first attack after the penalty miss suggested where they were going to win the game – Mario Gotze received the ball in a right-of-centre position, and Lahm overlapped energetically, with Ozil and Cazorla both positioned centrally. Lahm didn’t actually receive the pass, but Arsenal’s lack of protection for Kieran Gibbs down that flank was worrying.

It was interesting that Guardiola started Arjen Robben on the left, with Gotze tucked inside on the right. This naturally encouraged Lahm forward, but things became particularly problematic for Arsenal when Robben drifted across to that side from his wing. Clearly, Robben favours that flank and it’s difficult to know whether this was part of Guardiola’s tactical plan, or whether the Dutchman was ignoring his instructions.

It’s hard to believe Guardiola wouldn’t go mad at Robben if he played so far out of position, but it’s equally difficult to imagine Guardiola would abandon his obsessed of covering lateral space efficiently, and retaining width on both flanks.

However, Ozil had already been switched to the left because Cazorla wasn’t tracking Lahm effectively. Arsenal started with Gibbs-Cazorla and were soon playing with Monreal-Ozil down that side, a completely unfamiliar partnership against Bayern’s strongest area.

Kroos control

The red card had a huge impact on the game, of course, and the penalty incident was one of many incidents that demonstrated Toni Kroos’ superb quality on the ball. For much of the match he was careful and reliable with his passing – his final total was a snooker-style 147.

But he also produced some wonderful incisive passes, particularly the ball in behind for Robben for the penalty decision. It was an excellently weighted chip, although Robben’s now customary dart in behind from the right flank was something Arsenal should have been alert too.

Kroos was a consistent threat from long-range, too – testing Szczesny with an early thunderbolt, whipping in a superb opener and hitting the post late on. He was the game’s dominant player.

Guardola switch down right

At half-time Guardiola reshuffled his defence. Boateng was taken off, Martinez was moved back into defence, Lahm was shifted into his (now) regular central midfield slot, and Rafinha was introduced down the right.

The line-ups for the start of the second half - substitutes highlighted

This had two effects. First, it meant Bayern no longer had to worry about Boateng collecting a second yellow card – Guardiola would have been aware of the importance of keeping the numerical advantage over Arsenal.

With Arsenal fielding two deep central midfielders, and no real from the number ten position, Bayern effectively played without a permanent holder and Lahm continually joined in attacks.

Arsenal withstand pressure centrally

With ten men, Arsenal were quite solid in central positions. They were rarely opened up between the lines because Mathieu Flamini and Jack Wilshere covered for each other well – when one moved up the pitch to close down, the other dropped behind to protect the defence if his teammate was beaten.

At the back, too, Mandzukic didn’t provide too many problems for Arsenal’s centre-backs, although they were troubled more by runners from deep. In fact, the penalty concession showed Arsenal were a little exposed both in front of, and behind, that defensive ’square’.

The problem was on the flanks, though. Arsenal naturally tired because the wide midfielders had to support Sanogo when possible, then get back into position. Having been forced into two early changes, Wenger could only bring on one remaining substitute: Tomas Rosicky for Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was removed because he’d picked up an injury earlier in the game. It was surprising Wenger didn’t introduce Rosicky down the left, however, switching Ozil right, considering the Czech midfielder is hard-working defensively and not afraid of a tackle.

Bayern make the breakthrough

Bayern continued to focus their play down the right flank. Robben’s movement was superb – he stretched the play by exploiting the space out wide when the ball was on the opposite flank, then cut inside onto his left foot, opening up space on the overlap.

At points, both Lahm and Rafinha were seeking to overlap past Robben, and with Ozil switching off a couple of times, it seemed certain the breakthrough would come from that side – Arsenal simply couldn’t get numbers out to the flank to cope with that Robben-Lahm-Rafinha triangle, especially without leaving Kroos and Thiago free.

In the end, Lahm set up Kroos for a wondergoal, and also played the cross for Muller’s header later. He was the second outstanding player behind Kroos – they both passed the ball reliably but provided the penetration when required, too.

Bayern go for the second

The most admirable aspect of Bayern’s performance here, however, was that they weren’t content with 1-0. Whereas last night in a very similar situation, Barcelona were content with that margin of victory and Gerardo Martino simply made straight swaps (granted, Alves did double the lead in the final minute), Guardiola went for the kill.

Having already switched his striker, bringing on Muller for Mario Mandzukic, he made a clearly attacking substitution with ten minutes to go. Now confident his side could control midfield with only two men, he removed Thiago and brought on an extra striker, Claudio Pizarro.

Now, for the first time, Arsenal’s centre-backs were defending 2 v 2, and this proved crucial in Muller’s late headed goal – Pizarro made a superb run to drag Per Mertesacker out of position, forcing the Arsenal centre-backs to switch positions and creating a gap for Muller to dart into, his speciality.

It’s worth watching the replay to see Muller’s awareness of Pizarro’s decoy run, too – as soon as he sees Pizarro’s movement, he immediately runs the opposite way, and raises his arm to invite Lahm’s cross. Interestingly, as the goal goes in, Pizarro immediately glances over towards the bench, rather than any of his teammates, perhaps suggesting that he’d done precisely what Guardiola had asked.

Conclusion

This game had an almost identical pattern to Barcelona’s win over Manchester City the previous evening – a game-changing red card, complete possession dominance from the away side, and a late goal to kill the tie.

Arsenal actually started brightly and this seemed a perfect match for Ozil to shine – his positioning and movement in the opening ten minutes was fantastic, but his penalty miss was disastrous for Arsenal, not merely because they didn’t score, but because their key player was affected.

Centrally Arsenal were solid, but out wide they visibly tired and conceding goals from their left flank seemed inevitable. Guardiola’s half-time switch was (probably) primarily to guard against a Boateng red card, but it meant his side played with two natural right-backs, and both helped overload Arsenal in that crucial zone.

The late change to introduce Pizarro was excellent, however – a great example of a manager making the most of a numerical advantage. The importance of that away goal is huge – it’s the difference between Bayern having a good lead, and Bayern being out of sight.

Robben’s movement was designed specifically to create an overload. Guardiola would not have been concerned with Sagna’s attacking prowess, and was content to simply let Alaba cancel Oxlade-Chamberlain’s influence without fear of receiving an overload.

Bayern’s strategy was clear once they weathered the early storm from Arsenal, and they emphasized this further with the man advantage. Lahm and Rafinha were excellent to watch as a tandem.

I thought this was a more closely fought match than Barca-City. Arsenal were up for the match, and Bayern’s distribution from the back was very poor with Boateng. He isn’t going to last long with Guardiola. Bayern’s minds were moving too quickly for their feet in the early stages.

Barbara on February 20, 2014 at 12:39 pm

I just hope Badstuber gets back into his old form. He would be much better suited to Bayern’s style under Guardiola than Boateng.

Mark on February 21, 2014 at 3:33 am

The only issue is that both Dante and Badstuber are left-footed, and that may make it difficult to form a partnership as both have always played (naturally) on the left hand side of the defence.

Where is Clarence? on February 20, 2014 at 12:55 pm

Unlike Barcelona Bayern really struggled in the opening minutes and could have conceded twice. The match again proved what i m noticing for long now. Bayern always struggle until they take the lead. Arsenal were really up for it, but were reduced to 10. Even later Bayern never looked like breaking the deadlock, just like last year they needed a shot from outside the box. The foul resulting in the red was their best, but the keeper could have got the ball, because he was reacting a bit too slow.
They didnt take advantage of Mandzukic/Pizarro and their wingplay looked confused.

For all that has been said, Bayern are of course a strong team, but not as “invincible” as the media thinks. The Bundesliga is just too weak to challenge them, take out Dortmund. Curious to see how they will react in the later stages against strong opposition when they will concede the first.

I think you are reminded of Pep’s Barca when you watch Bayern. Opponents just shut up shop in front of them. Having said that I think Bayern do have the options to go direct if they want to. Certainly they have height and muscle compared to Barca.

Scott on February 20, 2014 at 5:09 pm

I wouldn’t say they “struggle until they take the lead”. If that were the case, they’d lose a lot more games. They eventually do score the first goal nine times out of ten, allowing them to dictate the game at that point and really open up sides. Bayern have the ability to possess like Barca, counter like Real, and power through like nobody else. Playing possession requires patience and the goals don’t always come right away. Countering comes after they’ve forced the other team out of their shell.

In conclusion, “curious to see how they will react in the later stages against strong opposition IF they concede the first, not when”.

For the record, I’m not a Bayern supporter so I am not just standing up for bias.

LaMaquina on February 20, 2014 at 1:22 pm

I am not sold on Mandzukic as a top level striker. I thought he was undisciplined against Arsenal, and unnecessarily flirted with provoking the referee into showing him a second yellow. He is a hard worker, but Lewandowski clearly will be a step up overall.

Bayern are not invincible, but their biggest potential threat- Juventus- is playing Europa League unfortunately.

Barelona are the only side capable of really pushing Bayern if they stay healthy.

Where is Clarence? on February 20, 2014 at 1:56 pm

Mandzukic does dark arts, he s often trying to do hidden fouls and gets provoked easily. But hey Lewan is not much different.

Why Juve? Last year they looked chanceless. I think Paris and Real a strong contenders as well. They have good physis upfront and can break down the wings quickly. But lets not forget, that there is our “friend” Jose, who has a score to settle with Bayern/Pep for the UEFA Supercup. Chelsea should have won the game back then. Chelsea is a forgotten force in the contest this year and I predict em definetly to reach the semis. They are much stronger than 2012.

Barcelona look like being on track, but as always, their defense is a factor. They need to take their chances upfront, to not getting punished.

This CL could be the most interesting for long, we have 3 or 4 teams which are really really strong.

LaMaquina on February 20, 2014 at 2:08 pm

Juve made some important transfers to increase the versatility of their forward line, and they are the only side in the world with the power/quality in midfield to go hand to hand with Bayern.

Real lack creative inspiration (Ancelotti not favouring Isco), and they are quite average if you eliminate the counter attack. Very underwhelming side in open play unless they are countering.

Chelsea lack the striker play to carry them into the semis or final.

lololololololololololol on February 20, 2014 at 8:18 pm

I see a huge Juve fan..

Of Course, only Juve who cant even win over Galatasaray is out only hope to beat Bayern, of course, lol

Real is quite average if you eliminate hte counter attack? Hohoho, they dont even play counter attacks this season, they play slow possesion footbal, really, looks like you really watching football. And Isco.. Isco is benched because he is not creative player at all. All what he can do is dribling, dribling, never ending dribling, that is all. And most of the time, he just loses the ball. Real play better without Isco, he is better at the wing than in AMC role and they dont use AMC role now. They play 433.

Juve is just overated team..Sorry, not overrated.. No one with any sense in football world rates them so high like you. Serie A is a poor and weak leauge, almost everyone with some potential left.

Scott on February 20, 2014 at 9:09 pm

“I see a huge Juve fan..”

Should’ve ended your post there…

I see a huge Real fan…

While I agree with your assessment that LaMaQuina’s statement was bias at best, stating that no one with any sense in football would rate them high is also naïve. Serie A is down, but to call it a poor and weak league…. common sense has been replaced with favoritism and “homer-ism”, just more bias being added to the conversation.

miles on February 20, 2014 at 2:07 pm

I think all three spanish teams would pose unique threats to bayern respectively. Barca with the possession game + messi not being injured. Real with amazing direct vertical play, and atletico with massive pressure and ability to grind down a game to play on their own terms. The quarter finals I hope to see no single nation ties drawn, so we get some of these awesome matchups!

lololololololololololol on February 20, 2014 at 8:22 pm

Real do not play “amazing direct vertical play” anymore.

Luce on February 20, 2014 at 1:37 pm

Excellent work. I’m really looking forward for the New Manager Series featuring Guardiola.

Ndee on February 20, 2014 at 7:27 pm

second that. Would love to read a detailed analysis of Guardiola’s work in Munich and whether he has improved the team from your point of view.

Arsenal are beset by one problem: they simply don’t know how to play another way. They lack the personnel.

1) No variety in attack. Arsenal can’t play direct. Their game plan revolves around dominating the play with midfielders, playing one-twos and charging into the box OR getting the ball out wide and driving in a low cross. Bayern were overwhelmed by their intensity in the opening ten minutes but once the pace inevitably slowed Bayern took hold of the ball and dictated. Arsenal don’t play long balls behind the defense for the striker to run onto, they don’t bury headers from crosses. When possession is lost, they are vulnerable to the counter, which brings me to my second point

2) No clue in defense. Arsenal don’t know how to press. Their first wave moves up when the ball approaches the center circle, but once you get past the initial press, the Bayern midfielders cleverly station themselves to receive passes, and Bayern pass their way out of trouble easily. The thing about pressing is that it must be done not just by the front line, but as a TEAM. The best example was Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. They didn’t just pressure the man with the ball, they pressured his passing options too. Escape Arsenal’s initial press, and you’ve bypassed 2-3 players.

One-dimensional in attack, and clueless in defense. Arsenal are not ready to win the Champions League, they simply aren’t top-level tactically.

Zaraf on February 22, 2014 at 11:56 pm

Actually, I wouldn’t say Arsenal lack variety, because they have Podolski, they have Ozil and Cazorla, they have Sanogo, they have Giroud.
They have great wide players even with the exclusion of their main man and probably the guy that they missed the most before and after red card – walcott.

I just think Wenger is not prepared to make switches. he sticks with same gameplan he prepared in preseason and very little was changed throughout the year.

Cogito on February 20, 2014 at 6:34 pm

We had a lot of trouble in the opening ten minutes because our ball retention was poor. We tried to counterattack Arsenal and expose them but we did so by using long-high balls to Mandzukic, who was 2-v-1 against aerially capable centrebacks. Didn’t work. Bayern’s response to Arsenal’s intensity was disjointed, and Guardiola needs to prepare the team for that better in the future. Also, there was trouble because Robben and Goetze were so narrow early on, they were not covering the fullbacks properly so Arsenal had too much space in the channels. Part of the reason Arsenal burned the high line so much was because there was almost no one actually defending.

That being said, Arsenal’s strong opening contributed to their ultimate defeat. They were looking gassed by the half hour mark. Two of their players were injured and they completely lost concentration on Robben for the play that led to the red card. The second goal was great movement, but still, I wonder, if Arsenal don’t expend so much energy in the first 87 minutes, do they read that in-out run pattern and stop it?

The next round of the Champions league, assuming there are little to no upsets (so far the first four ties have all gone as expected), should be stacked. Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Atletico is a crazy quarter-final where every tie should be competitive. All of those teams except PSG have significant recent European pedigree, and PSG have Ibra, so they’ll be juuuust fine.

Sal on February 20, 2014 at 7:16 pm

Bad luck for Arsenal sums it up. They had every opportunity to win, the tactics were right, and the players played well. The Ozil miss and the red card did them in. Why on earth did Ozil take it – he thrives on less pressure, not more.

Also, Bayern’s weakness exposed – their centre backs are no good for ball retention, and though they may be fast in space, but can be had by good dribblers. Opponents can successfully park the bus, ignoring the centre backs as nothing good in attack can come from them, or pressure to get turnovers from the centre backs.

Cogito on February 21, 2014 at 3:32 am

Boateng and Dante have excellent ball retention. They had an aberration the first ten minutes because Martinez was unprepared and the midfield was unusually disorganized. You also clearly didn’t watch the weekend where the opponent parked the bus and Contento’s cross found Dante (one of those centerbacks) who scored.

Carlo's Equilibrium on February 20, 2014 at 9:34 pm

@ the people who talk about Madrid and Isco.

Madrid since the 433 change of 2014 have played 13 games and conceded only 3 goals, one of them a free kick.

Madrid is not playing @ counters the way they played with Mourinho, there is much more balance and equilibrium, and Madrid is much better defensively, with the ball at their feet, and it still has some great counter schemes the way i see it. The problem with the possession Madrid play is that it doesn’t really go anywhere most of the time, and there is not enough positive build up from it, not much play in the middle, or triangles with possession build up in mind, it’s vertical bypassing, crosses, and shots/mistakes from other team, that wins the game for madrid.

But they are doing very well, if i were carlo i would try Illarramendi in the middle for Di Maria, i don’t see Madrid staying like this for next season, not good enough, but it’s at a good place.

Madrid shouldnt be scared of anyone, they dont have to.

About Isco, he’s not a playmaker, the lack of creative inspiration doesnt come from not using Isco really. Isco isnt being used because hes not good enough at the moment when it comes to pass ability, movement, intensity, defending, to play where Modric is playing. Isco has to learn and adapt to play farther and next season there will surely be the purchase of a ball winner in the midfield, but carlo is sticking with the 4-3-3 because that midfield covers the in-form defense very well.

Seems to me like an ideal champions league team.

grifter on February 20, 2014 at 10:28 pm

Hey, ZM, I know you don´t take requests, but you should really check out RB Salzburg. They just wrecked Ajax 3:0, beat Bayern in a friendly and probably play the most aggressive/intelligent pressing currently. Surely worth an article on here, no?

Gerson on February 21, 2014 at 8:12 am

Based on your description of Salzburg’s style of play, I wonder how much coaching input sporting director Ralf Rangnick has on the team. It’s too bad he hasn’t ended up at one of the truly top, top teams. As I think he’s one of the best managers out there. But it seems he’s busy doing another Hoffenheim with RB Leipzig. I’ll have to keep a look out for Salzburg from now on. And I second an article, if you have the time of course ZM.

Hazza on February 20, 2014 at 11:33 pm

Hi ZM! Good stuff!
Do you have a view about the red card incident? Sure it was a foul, but it seems excessive to me that a team is penalised with a Penalty (a new goal-scoring opportunity) + send off reducing opposition to 10 men + suspension for the player following the red card. To me it seems like a triple whammy for an infraction that in other parts of the field would garner maximum yellow card! It didn’t look dangerous to me in any way! Robben fell awkwardly, but he put himself in the air, not Szcesny. Is the law an ass? I would love to hear if you have a view on that!

It4chl on February 21, 2014 at 12:15 am

I know i’m not zm but here are my thoughts on this nothenless..
A lot is being said on this but if there are no harsh punishments for “denying a clear goalscoring opportunity” 9 out of 10 times the defending player will fell the fwd, taking a yellow card hoping for the penalty to fail.
I think the rule is fine as it is. At most the red card can be left to the judgement of the referee. Red card could only be awarded if the referee notes malice in the challenge, meaning no attempt by the defender to play the ball in the incident or dangerous play.

Cogito on February 21, 2014 at 3:36 am

This has only been an issue because it affected two English teams negatively in one week. The rule is the same for everyone, and it exists for a very good reason.

Players shouldn’t cynically foul to prevent things ike breakaways. Do it anyways and the referee gets to throw the book at you.

Hazza on February 21, 2014 at 3:52 am

Not an English problem. I’m a Barca fan and I still have a problem with it! I want to see good even contests, not the best matches reduced to rubbish because one team goes down to 10. That’s now two matches on the trot! Robben got fouled, and his goal scoring opportunity (debatable) was lost. So they get a penalty, another goal scoring opportunity! What is wrong with that? Send off and subsequent suspension is too harsh!

HW on February 21, 2014 at 10:34 am

If you want to see a good even contest, blame the player who was send off for his action.

Pieter on February 22, 2014 at 1:17 pm

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the current rule the last few days and most of them say the same thing that red and a penalty is too much and yellow and a penalty would be enough.

But they forget that if you change the rule to yellow and a penalty the defensive side get even more favored and we’ll see a lot of defenders and goalkeepers take advantage by fouling on purpose (especially in the last part of games).

Defensive minded teams got favored enough like with offside it’s mostly the defensive team that got the benefit of the doubt or players that constantly foul to slow the game got spared of their second yellow.

In my opinion the teams willing to play attacking football should be favored not the anti football sides like mourinho’s teams.

Bayern have a real issue with Jerome Boateng…he had a bad game against Arsenal in space and he really shouldn’t have seeing he was going against Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil… remember the game against Dortmund where Reus outplayed him…if you want to beat Bayern the Rafinha-Boateng combination seems to be their weak point

Ozil’s confidence is very weak, like glass. A miss penalty and his confidence is smashed to bits. He needs to know that life is not all flowers and bees and there are times he need to work his feet off in mud to get things done.

HW on February 21, 2014 at 8:35 pm

Oezil is not the first players whose confidence dropped after he missed a penalty (Arjen Robben comes immediately to my mind). And it takes time to regain this confidence. Robben was boed for a long time by the Bayern supporters. I don’t knoe if he has taken a penalty since then.

Only success will help Oezil in the long run. Right now he needs the backing of his team and manager. A run of good games with goals and assists will help for sure. And he has to develop a ‘me against the world’ mindset. But I doubt he ever will be a larger than life ego.

woifmoa on February 21, 2014 at 8:46 pm

how about an article about ajax-salzburg (europa league)?

Redman on February 21, 2014 at 10:51 pm

Why did Wilshere take a quick freekick in the 88th minute when Koscielny is 80 yards away from his GK, especially given Arsenal had only 10 men?

Be it 1-1 or 1-0 to Barca, Arsenal would need to score 1 goal at the Allianz Arena. They have a much better chance with 11 men. I personally think it is a very stupid decision from Wilshere. These are the avoidable mistakes which can make a huge difference in the highest level.

wee pat on February 21, 2014 at 11:36 pm

Lahm and Kroos were both a joy to watch – pretty much perfect performances from both of them. I particularly enjoyed how much attacking right back threat Lahm still provided even when he was playing holding midfielder!

Pieter on February 22, 2014 at 1:27 pm

Lahm is one of the most underrated players of the last 10 years.
Although most of us hopefully saw he was a one of the best RB and/or LB in the world, he didn’t got the recognition he deserved now that he got shifted to DM he got some more but still not enough.

Zaraf on February 22, 2014 at 11:59 pm

I must say this is a bad analysis by your standards. You barely touched Gibbs injury and Monreal’s mistakes which even let to the penalty and on the other side you didn’t even mention Chamberlain destroying Alaba, which was to me the most surprising thing in the game.

Diverinho on February 23, 2014 at 11:44 am

Kroos control – you couldn’t resist it, could you Nice one, and good report, thanks.
Guardiola’s mantra of having and/or creating polyvalent players (able to play multiple positions) really start paying off. With Lahm comfortable as 2, 6, 8, (and even 10), Kroos as 6, 8, 10, Martinez as 6, 4, and 8, Alaba as 3, 11, and 6 (!), and the offensive players also on any position upfront – there is hardly any type of injury/surprise that can hit them (Bayern). They often just need one substitution to effectively change three-four positions and still have a functioning team. Currently I only see Madrid as similarly flexible, with their various attacking and defensive midfield options…